Cicely’s work seeks to bring about better outcomes for people and nature during economic development. She combines fieldwork and plant identification with biogeographic, ecological, phylogenetic and modelling methods to fill ecological knowledge gaps and translate this knowledge for business and government.
Past projects
Understanding genetic diversity, distribution and taxonomy to underpin conservation and recovery of elm tree populations in England. Funded by Natural England Species Recovery Programme, Wildlife Trusts, Gatsby Foundation.
Assessing biodiversity uplift credits from rewilded agricultural land using DNA metabarcoding. Two studentships funded by Isaac Newton Trust (£5000), with Nattergal, Knepp & Nature Metrics.
A comparative study of oil palm agribusiness, community production and rain forest ecosystems in Sinoe County, Liberia. Funded by BBSRC and Marshall-Sherfield Foundation, with Golden Veroleum Liberia.
A national validation study of Defra’s statutory biodiversity metric. Funded by the Ecological Continuity Trust.
King’s College Wildflower Meadow Biodiversity Monitoring. Funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, with BSBI, Wildlife Trusts, Cambridge Natural History Society.
Verifying the Biological Importance of the Sof Omar Key Biodiversity Area, Ethiopia. Led by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.
Rapid Botanic Survey of the south west Ghana hotspot. Dept. Plant Sciences University of Oxford, with the Forest Research Institute of Ghana & National Herbarium of Ghana. Supported by the Wilson Fund & OUEC.
ARBOPRO: Restoring the Wondo Genet College Arboretum. Wondo Genet College of Forestry, the University of Hamburg and the University of Oxford Harcourt Arboretum. Wondo Genet, Ethiopia.
Barcoding West African Timber Trees. With Université Libre de Bruxelles, Forest Research Institute of Ghana, National Herbarium of Ghana, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
DfID Forestry Research Programme: Impact of harvesting on forest mortality and regeneration in Ghana. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford.
Rapid Botanic Survey of the Brazilian Cerrado. With the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford (Stephen Harris) & Universidade de Brasília, funded by British Petroleum (BP biofuels).
National Rapid Botanic Survey of Brunei Darussalam project development. With the Department of Plant Sciences (William Hawthorne), Ministry of Industry & Primary Resources, University of Brunei Darussalam; supported by the British High Commission to Brunei.